Emily's News Blog

The United States designated one military force in Iran as a proliferator of weapons of mass destruction and another force as supporters of terrorism, according to Reuters.

The U.S. has imposed sanctions on more than 20 Iranian companies, some banks and individuals in an effort to pressure Tehran into stopping their nuclear program.

The United States has labeled Iran as sponsoring terrorism, singling our the Revolutionary Guard Corps displays growing frustrations, according to the New York Times.

The action will freeze any assets the guard has in the United States, though it's unlikely that the guard has many assets in American banks or institutions.

There have been efforts by the United Nations to curb Iran's activities but after two round of sanctions China and Russia disagreed to go further. The Russian president, Vladimir V. Putin, after visiting Iran last week, said there was no reason for military strikes, according to the New York Times.

The over-all goal of the designation is to increase political and psychological pressure on Iran.

Posted by Emily Weber at 7:37 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Judy Rye, 55, was hit by a dump truck and killed Tuesday while she was crossing the street in the Elliot Park neighborhood in Minneapolis, according to WCCO

Rye was on her way to a nursing home to visit her mother, her daughter said. As she was crossing 11th Avenue S. a city dump truck turning left off of E. 15th Street, struck her and rolled over her, witnesses said, according to the Star Tribune.

The driver, who has been working for the city for seven years, will undergo standard drug and alcohol testing.

The police are still unsure of the cause and are reconstructing the accident.

Posted by Emily Weber at 12:09 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

President Bush has asked congress for $46 billion more to fund the Iraq war. Most of it will go to day-to-day operation in Iraq, according to the Washington Post.

Though Bush is urging congress to approve it before Christmas, top House lawmakers will probably not act on his request until next year. The war which is now costing about $10 billion a month has a grand total cost of $455 billion so far, if the $46 billion request is approved, it will bring the running total to nearly half of $1 trillion, according to the Washington Post.

Bush recognizes that some in congress oppose the war, but he says they can voice their opinions but it is still necessary to give the troops what they need, according to CNN.

Small portions of the $46 billion will also go towards veteran health care, training of Iraqi soldiers and police, and some relief in Darfur and to Palestinians.

Posted by Emily Weber at 4:41 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The archbishop Desmond Tutu, a Nobel peace laureate, will only speak at St. Thomas University in the spring if the university reverses it's demotion of professor Cris Toffolo, according to the Star Tribune.

The controversy started when St. Thomas announced that they do not want Tutu to come to campus and speak because of some previous "hurtful" comments made about Israel's treatment of Palestinians and the "Jewish lobby" in the United States, according to the Pioneer Press. Because of the way Toffolo challenged the University's decision, she was demoted from her administrative position.

St. Thomas president Fr. Dennis Dease announced two weeks ago that he had made the wrong call and said that the University would like to have Tutu come to campus to speak in the spring, according to the Pioneer Press.

Tutu responded happily to the invite but said he would only come if Toffolo was reinstated to her leadership position as the director of Justice and Peace studies program and her file was cleared of any negative comments.

There is a rally to be held Tuesday on the university's campus by faculty members and staff in support of Toffolo, according to the Star Tribune.

Posted by Emily Weber at 4:21 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I blogged on stories from the Star Tribune and the Pioneer Press that covered the Gopher football game against NDSU Saturday.

I noticed that both articles included commentary from the writer's reactions to the games, more like an opinion piece but mostly consisted of fact-based material like statistics and quotes from coaches and players.

The articles were very similar to each other because I imagine sports writing is rather formulaic. They did present the newsworthy information at the top, rather than simply saying that the Gophers played the Bison, they pointed out that it was an embarrassing loss for the struggling Gophers.

It presented the context with the teams records, history of playing each other and what the Gophers have been struggling with all season. It also gave the characteristics of the audience with had quite an effect on describing what is was actually like in the dome during the game on Saturday.

While the writer's commentary was obviously present it did not control the story in either article.

Posted by Emily Weber at 3:07 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The Gopher football team lost to NDSU's Bison on Saturday. A loss is not surprising, given the Gophers record of 1-7, but the Star Tribune claims the loss will go down as one of the lowest points in Gopher football history.

Losing 27-21 to a team who brought just as many fans from North Dakota as the Gophers brought from a couple blocks away left new coach Tim Brewster saying, "I wish I knew," according to the Pioneer Press.

The Bison, a rival of the Gophers are classified one division lower and have, until Saturday, never beaten the Gophers before.

Posted by Emily Weber at 2:41 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Three homes, three businesses and one church have been destroyed in a fire that also forced students to evacuate their dorms on the Pepperdine University campus in Malibu and shut down a portion of the Pacific Coast highway, according to CNN.

Evacuation centers were set up at Zuma beach for those who have evacuated about 200 homes, campus buildings and a nearby vacation resort. The university campus' power was knocked out and several buildings are in danger from the fire.

The wildfire had consumed over 1,000 acres moving quickly fueled by high-speed winds of up to 65 miles per hour and the hot and dry weather conditions in Malibu, according to the New York Times.

No rain is expected until Tuesday while helicopters dropping water and some 250 firefighters battle the blaze, according to the New York Times.

Posted by Emily Weber at 2:15 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Iran's top nuclear negotiator, Ali Larijani resigned Saturday, according to CNN.

Larijani was considered one of the more moderate people involved in the ongoing dispute over Iran's nuclear policies. His resignation may make negotiations with more radical President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad quite a bit more difficult. Iran has been accused of secretly trying to develop nuclear weapons by enriching uranium that they continually claim to be for energy purposes.

The was conflict between Larijani and Ahmadinejad stemmed from a struggle for power after Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei dies, former U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. said, according to CNN.

Larijani had reportedly requested resignation several times before the president accepted it. He resigned in order to pursue other political activities, according to the Iranian government spokesman Gholamhossein Elham, reported the New York Times.

Posted by Emily Weber at 1:27 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

From 2001 to 2005 there were 69 teachers in Minnesota that had their licenses revoked, suspended, or denied because of sexual misconduct. One-third of the victims were students, according to WCCO.

Troubled pasts like this don't always come up in background checks that schools are required to do. Only felonies and gross misdemeanor charges show up in the background check, leaving out any trouble a teacher may have had just because they were never charged with a crime.

The 69 teachers with a troubled past is only a small fraction of Minnesota's 52,800 licensed teachers, but is still cause for concern for legislators and families, according to WCCO.

One teacher, Patrick Holmes, had his license suspended after writing notes about his desires and thoughts to one of his students in Deer River. He was instructed to take therapy before his license would be reinstated, He now teaches in another district in Minnesota, according to Minnesota Public Radio.

Tom Knoll, who was not the superintendent and is now at the school Holmes now works at, was not aware of Holmes past. Knoll said that if he had been superintendent at th time and had uncovered Holmes licensing record, he would have never been interviewed.

Holmes did not respond to phone messages and e-mail messages from the AP seeking comment.

*both articles were from the Associated Press, one just providing more detail on specific cases of teacher's with a problematic past.

Posted by Emily Weber at 12:44 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

A 15-year-old boy fired about 100 rounds, injuring no one, from inside his home near Hudson, Wis., according to the Star Tribune.

The boy was taken to a mental hospital in Madison for evaluation.

The St. Croix County Sheriffs Office said the boy had two handguns and a .22 caliber pistol, according to the Star Tribune.

When police arrived they took cover and evacuated several nearby homes, according to the Pioneer Press. It appeared that the boy was shooting above homes and not directing fire at officers, said St. Croix County Sheriff Dennis Hillstead.

After Negotiating with the boy for three hours they finally persuaded him to surrender at about 12:30 a.m.

Posted by Emily Weber at 12:22 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Press conferences given by the President can be found at the Whitehouse's website whitehouse.gov They appear in the form of news releases. The one I have linked above is a verbatim transcript of the press conference.

I unfortunately had a hard time finding articles that covered certainly press conferences that were held recently or quoted material was not directly attributed to the press conference itself.

I found one article that, relatively recently quoted a press conference in Toronto, from Reuters The article covered an issue more so than the press conference itself. The article used quotes from the press conference as simply one aspect of information that contributed to the larger story.

From searching for coverage of press conferences I learned to look at them and treat them mostly as news releases where most of the provided information is previously planned.

Posted by Emily Weber at 9:16 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

House Speaker, Nancy Pelosi is urging congress to recognize the Armenian killings, from the World War I era, a genocide, according to CNN. The U.S. would be the 24th country to recognize the killings as a genocide.

A Turkish official warned the U.S. that if the resolution passed major logistical support would be lost from Turkey, who is a major port hub for the United States.

President Bush said that it was the wrong response to the killings and also warns that we would lose important support from Turkey for the war in Iraq because 70 percent of cargo headed to Iraq goes through Turkey, as well as 30 percent of the fuel we send to our troops in Iraq, according to CNN.

The Bush administration is continuing intense efforts to prevent the passage of the resolution, according to the New York Times.

If the killings were condemned by the United States, "Our military relations with the U.S. would never be as they were in the past," the armed forces chief from Turkey said, "The U.S., in that respect, has shot itself in the foot." He was quoted in the Milliyet, a Turkish newspaper.

Posted by Emily Weber at 8:28 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

A 28-year-old man was arrested Friday in the abduction and rape of a woman from the 38th Street light rail station, according to the Pioneer Press.

According to WCCO, it was a 20-year-old man that was arrested in this case.

Police said he is expected to be charged with first-degree criminal sexual conduct, kidnapping and aggravated robbery, according to the WCCO.

Metro Transit police are pleased to have made an arrest in this very brutal assault, they hope it will bring the victim some peace of mind, according to WCCO.

The cameras at the light rail station and witnesses helped police find the suspect, according to the Pioneer Press.

*Both the Pioneer Press and WCCO attributed the articles to the Associated Press.

Posted by Emily Weber at 4:08 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The 55-year-old shooting victim, identified as Marvin Latimer of Minneapolis, was shot to death Friday in the 1400 block of Portland Avenue S., according to the Star Tribune.

Police said this homicide, the 37th of the year for Minneapolis, was not random but have not discussed a motive yet.

No arrests have been made and police have asked anyone with information to call the police tip line at 612-692-8477, according to the Pioneer Press.

Posted by Emily Weber at 3:16 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Three men, two Americans and one Brition, have been awarded the Nobel Prize for medicine for 2007, according to the New York Times. They will split the $1.54 million prize that they've received for developing a widely used technology to create animal models of human disease in mice. This process is also known as gene targeting.

The three men receiving the prize are Mario R. Capecchi, 70, of the University of Utah, Oliver Smithies, 82, of the University of North Carolina, and Sir Martin J. Evans, 66, in Cardiff University in Whales, according to the New York Times.

The three men mostly worked independently but shared their research with each other, according to the Washington Post. All three were surprised and happy with the news of the award after working on this for 20 years.

The process they developed has been used to study heart disease, cancer, cystic fibrosis, diabetes and other diseases. Smithies hopes that the award will make it easier to secure funding for further research, according to the Washington Post.

Posted by Emily Weber at 12:03 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

An off duty deputy sheriff killed six people Sunday in what may have been a "jealous boyfriend's" rampage in a small town in Wisconsin, according to the Star Tribune. The victims were students and recent graduates of Crandon High School. The shooter, Tyler Peterson, 20, was shot and killed by officers eight miles north of Crandon Sunday afternoon.

In the town of about 2,000 people, residents say that everyone in the town will be affected by this tragedy.

The residents are questioning how this young man capable of killing six people, was cleared to become a law enforcement officer. The investigation will be carried out by the state Department of Criminal Investigation because the gunman is a law enforcement officer, according to the Pioneer Press.

Posted by Emily Weber at 11:15 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)